Video Recording of “Right-Wing Populist Party Organisations in Europe: Of and For the People?”

On Tuesday 18th January 2022, the COGITATIO Press hosted an online webinar exploring the main findings of the issue “Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation Across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party?”, published in their open access journal Politics and Governance.

Speakers:
Stijn van Kessel (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Judith Sijstermans (University of Birmingham, UK)
Niko Hatakka (University of Birmingham, UK)

Discussant:
Paul Taggart (University of Sussex, UK)

The event was recorded and can now be watched here on Youtube.

Webinar: Right-Wing Populist Party Organisations in Europe: Of and For the People?

This free to attend webinar will analyse the main findings of the issue “Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation Across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party?”, published in the open access journal Politics and Governance.

Speakers:
Stijn van Kessel (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Judith Sijstermans (University of Birmingham, UK)
Niko Hatakka (University of Birmingham, UK)

Discussant:
Paul Taggart (University of Sussex, UK)

Register here

If you do not receive a confirmation email with the link to access the event after the registration please contact communication@cogitatiopress.com

Event organised by the Politics and Governance journal.

Watch Daniele Albertazzi and Davide Vampa Present Their Book “Populism in Europe: Lessons from Umberto Bossi’s Northern League”

On 20th October 2021 Populism in Action’s Principal Investigator Prof. Daniele Albertazzi (University of Surrey) and Dr. Davide Vampa (Aston University) presented their new book Populism in Europe: Lessons from Umberto Bossi’s Northern League (Manchester University Press, 2021).

This launch event was held online and hosted between the Centre for Britain and Europe at the University of Surrey, Aston University and the Populism in Action Project.

Watch the presentation here. 

Populism in Action Research Presented at the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre

Dr. Stijn van Kessel, Populism in Action’s Queen Mary University of London based Co-Investigator, gave an online presentation at the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre on the 8th November 2021.

Speaking as part of the Centre’s Transformations of Democracy (TD) Unit seminar series, his presentation covered some of the key findings from the Thematic Issue ‘Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party?’, which is due to come out with Politics and Governance in November 2021.

Listen to New Patterns of Political Competition in W. Europe: Populists vs. Populists

On the 24th February 2021 the Populism in Action Project convened a virtual seminar to discuss the book Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe published in Routledge’s Extremism & Democracy series and edited by Dr. Daniele Albertazzi (Populism in Action’s Principal Investigator) and Dr. Davide Vampa.

A recording was made which can be heard here:

Listen here

The seminar explores how, and to what effect, populist parties of both the left and the right compete within the same political system. It presents the overall typology of populist party competition used in “Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe” and focus on the Greek, Flemish and British cases.

Chair: Dr. Daniele Albertazzi (University of Birmingham)

Discussion included the following participants:

Donatella Bonansinga (University of Birmingham)
Dr. Emmanouil Tsatsanis (EKKE)
Dr. Judith Sijstermans (University of Birmingham)
Dr. Davide Vampa (Aston University)

Daniele Albertazzi’s Co-Edited Book on Populism in Western Europe Launched at REPRESENT Seminar

On Wednesday 27th January Populism in Action’s Principal Investigator, Daniele Albertazzi, launched his new book: Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe, at a REPRESENT Seminar.

REPRESENT is a research collaboration between political scientists at the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham, with a particular interest in party organisation, formation and competition and their place in contemporary democracy. The event – which was held online – attracted over fifty participants, with attendees joining the call from across Europe, North America as well as other parts of the world.

The book, co-edited by Daniele with Davide Vampa of Aston University, and published as part of Routledge’s Extremism & Democracy series, analyses how party competition has adjusted to the success of populism in Western Europe, whether this is non-populists dealing with their populist competitors, or populists interacting with each other. The volume focuses on Western Europe in the period 2007–2018 and considers both right-wing and left-wing populist parties. It critically assesses the concept and rise of populism, and includes case studies on Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, Greece, and Italy.

You can find a link to the book on the Routledge website here

Populism in Europe and the USA – Webinar Recording

This Webinar took place on October 22, 2020. The main focus of the discussion was how do we understand populist leadership in the US? Is Trump a “populist”? What are the similarities and differences between Trump’s rhetoric and ideology and populists in Europe today (including the UK and Ireland)?

Watch the full webinar here.

Speakers included:

Mick Fealty, Editor of Slugger O’Toole
Dr. Daniele Albertazzi, University of Birmingham
Professor Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham
Professor Daphne Halikiopoulou, University of Reading
Professor Tim Bale, Queen Mary, University of London

The discussion was chaired by Professor Liam Kennedy, Director of UCD Clinton Institute.

PiAP-Clinton Institute Webinar: Comparing Populisms

This post appeared originally on EA Worldview


What can we learn from examining populism across as well as within countries?

The Populism in Action Project’s Dr. Daniele Albertazzi (University of Birmingham) and Dr. Stijn van Kessel (Queen Mary, University of London), joined by Dr. Julien Mercille (University College Dublin), took on the question in a webinar hosted by UCD’s Clinton Institute on October 15.

A video of this event was recorded and can be accessed here.

Dr. van Kessel laid the foundation for the session by setting out PiAP’s methodology and research questions. He began with the assumption, possibly borne out by the experience and practice of “mainstream” parties over the last 50 years, of a move away from the cultivation of extensive and intensive engagement with a mass membership. PiAP’s critique of this model is the demonstration of a mixture of older and newer forms of engagement cultivated and sustained by populist radical right parties in Europe.

Dr. Albertazzi then set out some of PiAP’s key findings so far in Belgium (Flanders), Finland, Italy, and Switzerland, considering the cases of Vlaams Belang, the Finns Party, the League and the Swiss People’s Party respectively.

In each, the representatives interviewed were enthusiastic about building local parties as a key part of strategy and internal culture. While there are noticeable local differences — for instance, the prominence of social media and instant messaging channels like WhatsApp in Italy and Belgium, and the relatively high degree of local autonomy enjoyed by branches of the Swiss People’s Party — each party under study is very good at building participatory organizations with which members want to be involved.

Albertazzi explained the attractive proposition of joining a space where a member can connect with like-minded people to share and discuss political ideas. Aware of this, populist radical right parties have developed effective means to mobilize members, who connect with them via social media or through other channels, into face-to-face activity through formal campaigning activity or social events.

Dr. Mercille complemented PiAP’s work, with the discussion of contemporary Irish politics. He explained why, despite the similarities between Ireland and other Western European countries, a populist radical right party has yet to emerge in the Republic.

There are conditions such as increasing economic insecurity, highly visible wealth inequality, concerns amongst culturally conservative individuals about social change, and a lack of trust in the political system. But Mercille suggested that reasons for the non-emergence of a radical right populist party range from the lack of a charismatic leader to the historic right-leaning duopoly of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, dominant since Irish independence in 1921. If there is a breakdown of this historic alignment, then Ireland might join other European countries with a populist radical right party like those studied by PiAP.

Tampere University: “How Populist Logic Functions in Contemporary Media”

Niko Hatakka (PiAP Finland focused Research Fellow) lectured on “How Populist Logic Functions in the Contemporary Media Environment” at a symposium organized by the Institute for Advanced Social Research at Tampere University, Finland on December 4-5, 2019.

The symposium brought together cross-disciplinary social scientists in discussion of populism as class, discourse, and affective formation. Workshops considered to what extent these dimensions are effective in distinguishing political varieties, forms, and limits of populism as an analytic category.